China's Space Program News Thread
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because those batteries were constantly draining for heating the systems. keeping the whole thing from freezing over.
a big part of powerage drain come from simply thermal manangement of the system.
when on the way to the lunar injection orbit, Chang'e's sunny side would be couple hundred degrees, the back side would be couple hundred below zero. either passive (heat shields, surface coating) or active (fluid radiators) means would dump the expressive heat and heat up the cold vitals systems. so they don;t go nuts.
ofcourse they build the entire system to with stand a certain temperature band and put the entire system in a giant vacuum oven and freezer to simulate the enviornment to test it. but there is no way a certain system would be alive after prolonged periods in those extremes with out heating or cooling system...
one system for example... I kid you not, is the... electric storage batteries!!!
that's right, they use electric power to heat / cool the batteries so they can conserve power and not degrade the battery. works out in long term
AssassinsMace
Lieutenant General
Full fps footage of the landing. Now let's see the rover.
[video=youtube;TaQTSTrbT3w]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TaQTSTrbT3w[/video]
[video=youtube;TaQTSTrbT3w]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TaQTSTrbT3w[/video]
curious to see what kind of arrangement would they use for lunar sample return mission in 2017.
current capability of the workhorse LM-3B configuration is about 5500 to GTO... about 3-4000 kg to lunar transfer orbit after fuel burn.
empty mass of chang'e 3 is quoted as 1200.
assume they left a little buffer for fuel. thats not a lot mass budget for an re-entry capsule and a rocket to blast off from lunar surface.
unless of course...
which means a more powerful rocket than current LM-3B series is needed.
which brings in another questions... have they thought about two launches with LM-3B in space of one month, with LEO spacecraft dock- and-connect, then blast off to transfer orbit???
since first of LM-5 series would not be ready enough in time for the 2017 mission....
fyi the entire set of technology demonstrated in Lunar Rover and Sample return is pretty much the same for a Martian rover and sample return. except
1) Martian Atmosphere, entry and re-entry
2) The shear distance involved.
current capability of the workhorse LM-3B configuration is about 5500 to GTO... about 3-4000 kg to lunar transfer orbit after fuel burn.
empty mass of chang'e 3 is quoted as 1200.
assume they left a little buffer for fuel. thats not a lot mass budget for an re-entry capsule and a rocket to blast off from lunar surface.
unless of course...
which means a more powerful rocket than current LM-3B series is needed.
which brings in another questions... have they thought about two launches with LM-3B in space of one month, with LEO spacecraft dock- and-connect, then blast off to transfer orbit???
since first of LM-5 series would not be ready enough in time for the 2017 mission....
fyi the entire set of technology demonstrated in Lunar Rover and Sample return is pretty much the same for a Martian rover and sample return. except
1) Martian Atmosphere, entry and re-entry
2) The shear distance involved.
NASA has floated ideas to do sample return from Mars on a budget. One involves firing a very compact solid fueled multi-stage rocket, weighing only 25 kilograms or so, off from the surface of Mars with just a few grams of Martian dirt in a capsule. The capsule will then be captured in Martian orbit by an orbiting earth return stage, brought back to earth, inserted into small atmospheric reentry titanium sphere weighing only a few kilograms, and sent in for a landing.
Since the moon's surface gravity is only 1/3 that of Mars, this whole idea ought to be quite practical for lunar return as well, and doable for even less weight.
It was said the Chang'e 3 lander had a potential payload capacity of over 1000 Kgs, and only 120kg is used for the rover. There appears to be plenty of extra payload capacity for a small solid fueled ascent stage weiging some dozens of kilograms to hitch a ride, along with a Yutu 2 rover to look for interest dust to bring back. The Chang'e 2 bus had already demonstrated the capacity to escape from the moon again, so an modified Chang'e bus can be used to capture the moon dust capsule in lunar orbit, escape from the lunar gravity well and reenter earth's sphere of influence, zip by earth, and drop off a small reentry module housing the moon dust capsule.
The greatest challenge seem to be the lunar orbit rendevous needed for the lunar return craft to pick up the lunar dust capsule. Unmanned orbital rendevous so far from earth has, AFAIK, never been actually attempted.
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Outstanding achievement!
While American news talked about Obama's "selfie," China makes an unmanned soft landing on the moon and deploys its Yutu (Jack Rabbit) Rover.
Ramps deploy, Rover starts rolling at 3:10, touches surface at 3:55, completely on surface at 4:15!
[video=youtube;ht4_hJBHejA]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ht4_hJBHejA[/video]
Much deserved congratulations!
While American news talked about Obama's "selfie," China makes an unmanned soft landing on the moon and deploys its Yutu (Jack Rabbit) Rover.
Ramps deploy, Rover starts rolling at 3:10, touches surface at 3:55, completely on surface at 4:15!
[video=youtube;ht4_hJBHejA]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ht4_hJBHejA[/video]
Much deserved congratulations!
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asif iqbal
Lieutenant General
Congratulations to all Chinese!!
You know a superpower has arrived on the scene when they reach and land on the moon
China is doing the number on the space programme they have such a robust system for space development very very well organised and calculated, master class performance they do all the launches themselves too
You know a superpower has arrived on the scene when they reach and land on the moon
China is doing the number on the space programme they have such a robust system for space development very very well organised and calculated, master class performance they do all the launches themselves too
Based on historic precedent, a superpower will fall within 20 years of sending a unmanned rover to the moon.
Just kidding.
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